The Facts and Myths of Megakat City
by CannedCream
Summary: Clayton Pawsworth is pursuing a dream that leads him to Megakat City and into the Enforcers. However, life as he knows it is about change, and all because he stops by a little salvage yard on the outskirts of the city.....
1. Forward

FORWARD

This is my second SWAT Kats story and thus marks the first time I've ever written two fan fictions over the same subject and my 4th story total. Mark your calendars. My last SK story was written on my last summer break, so there were daily updates, sadly I am now a college kat so there is much work do be done. I suppose you can expect a chapter a week, but don't hold me to that, if I get another week like this one where I am bombarded with essays, I may run out of time for a good SK chapter; quality over quantity and all that jazz.

A note I'd like to bring up is that because of my good friends at Game Crazy, I received my copy of SWAT Kats for the SNES! I have creamed myself with joy. I won't lie to you, it's an bland platformer, but WHO CARES? It's the freaking SWAT Kats! T-Bone and Razor, baby! I suggest you pick it up if you need a quick SK fix. (Just one more, man! Just one more!) Tehe.

Okay, this story is based off of my own character I created in my mind one sleepless night. Now don't worry, he's not a SWAT Kat, I'm not going to screw with the SK universe as you know it. Jake and Change are still the only superheroes, Feral still hates them, Manx is still a coward, Callie is still hot, all the goodness is still there. My character, Clay Pawsworth, is merely on the outside looking in on the world of SK. Thus giving me the enjoyment of brining anything and everything I want into question. I'm not exactly sure where this tale is going yet, but I promise that once we get there……you're not getting your money back so don't even ask!

Just for a disclaimer, if you are offended by violence or swearing, you may want to leave now. Also, since the FCC don't mean crap to me, these stories of mine (for the most part) include both items mentioned above, especially a SWAT Kats story. You know there would have been some swearing if they could get it past the censors.

Comfy? Right then. WE'RE OFF!

-Kyle Vincent-


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

'The Remembrance of the Past'

There was a click followed by a short buzz. Then in less then a second, the voice Madd Mark in the Morning came over the small clock radio beside his bed. On any other day, Mark would be lucky to get a full sentence in before being cut off for ten minutes by a single touch (or in his case, a slam) of the snooze alarm, but today was different. Today he was already out of bed and was dressing as the radio alarm struck the 7AM hour and he decided to let Madd Mark in the Morning speak his mind, that's why they paid him the big bucks.

"Goooooooooooooooooooooood mooooooooooooooring Megakat City! This is your old friend, Madd Mark telling you that it is time to get your tails out from the sheets and into your nine to five, but don't you fret, Madd Mark will be with you every step of the way! So to start off this morning let's hear today's weather forecast!"

There was a short pause before a recorded female voice rattled out the highs, lows, suns and rains. It was going to be a warm, sunny day, but he could already see that. That was the reason windows were invented, sister. It was a nice day, he was in a great mood, and life was worth living. The world was so sweet that it was almost sickening.

Madd Mark returned to his eager listeners (wherever _they_ were, it wasn't in his room) and began on the traffic reports before breaking some 'hot toons' for a 'cool day'. He stood in front of his bedroom mirror pulling his work shirt over his head, he couldn't help but smile at the dork that served as Megakat's morning disk jockey. He make a mental note to find a new radio station. Where did they uncover that guy, anyway? Mark must have been standing outside the studio with a "WILL DJ FOR FOOD" sign. The idea made him snicker. He could just picture the kat with scraggly hair and a long beard wearing ripped up clothing next to a shopping cart filled with various nick-knacks.

To think, that could have very easily been him if things hadn't changed and the winds shifted to his favor. His name was Clayton (_"Call me Clay"_) Pawsworth. He grew up in a small farming town nestled miles away from the big city where he now resided. Mom and Dad had been the poor, but happy types and they had everything they ever needed: food, a roof over their heads, love, and a son. It was a simple life if there ever was one. His mother would do the cooking and cleaning, shop at the market, get the eggs, and smother dad and himself with more love then imaginable. Two men of the house would plow the fields, milk the cows, water crops, collect eggs, and all of that good country stuff.

For eighteen years, that had been his entire universe, until that one hot summer day when everything changed. It rang so clear and crisp in his mind that if Clay closed his eyes he could still smell the grass and wheat. Five years ago he changed and everything changed. He shattered the hearts of his parents and left the country and moved to Megakat City, a city that was just tearing at the seams with life.

It was no fairy book tale of how he got where he was now after swapping his country life for a city one. He spent two years on the streets of Megakat working odd jobs and moving from motel room to motel room, often disappearing just before it was time to pay up. When it came to food, it was hit or miss. He was an honest kat whenever he could be, however sometimes the money wasn't coming in and his stomach was empty. He was never proud of his actions, but he had to eat. Clay thought about home often, but never went back, he couldn't.

When things looked their very darkest, the clouds parted as they tend to do and all because he just happened to run into a tall, well build kat that went by the name Ulysses Feral. It was average day; one of those ho-hum, nothing special kinda deals. Clay had been outside Megakat Towers for some reason or another that escaped him now when there was the sudden sound of screeching tires and sirens from the corner of the block behind him. He spun on his heels to see the weirdest looking car he had ever beheld in his lifetime come veering around on its two tires. For a moment, it looked like it was about to flip, then the vehicle settled.

The auto itself looked thrown together from a million and one other items, mostly armored cars from the look of it. From behind the Frankenstein of motorized vehicles came several tanks and choppers from overhead. Clay started to back away from the oncoming chase as others around him were fleeing like mad. He would have done the same if the car wasn't just so damn weird looking. It was like his brain was too busy registering the item to send a message to his legs to take off. Several of the choppers were firing rounds at the car all of which just bounced off with a metallic ping. The lead helicopter blasted a large missile from its core. The projectile moved ahead of it's target and created a huge crater in the pavement. Just as Clay was about to think that was just about the worst aim he had ever seen, the armored car struck the pot hole dead on with it's left tire causing it to flip off of the road. It went sideways and crashed into the base of Megakat towers, showering the area with glass and steel. It all happened so fast that it wasn't until the top hatch of the car opened and a figure leaped out that Clay even realized how close the accident had been to him.

From the smoke of the wreckage came a lone kat. Dumbfounded with his brush with death, Clay didn't even have time to struggle before he was taken hostage suddenly the driver. He held his arm tightly around Clayton's neck as pressed muzzle of some kind of gun through his fur and into his temple where it stabbed painfully.

The tanks screeched to a halt and police unites piled out of every other one, weapons drawn. The choppers circled the sky save for one that was hovering and slowly lowering to street level. A fairly large kat leaned out of the passenger side (or whatever they called it in their lingo) of the chopper. He gripped the side with one paw and was holding a megaphone in the other. The kat who had short black hair over his brown fur, a square chin and a nice enough looking suit brought the device up to his lips and called out.

"Chopshop! The Enforcers have you surrounded! Release the hostage and surrender."

Clay remembered that it didn't really strike him what was going on until those words reached his ears. He was a hostage, another victim of 'wrong place, wrong time'. He was trapped in the middle of the sidewalk with a weird ass gun pointed right at his ever so sensitive brain were he would be lucky if the bullet (if that thing even fired bullets) would settle with only killing him.

The kat who was identified as Chopshop yelled some cliché response that went right up there with_ "You'll never take me alive, copper!" _in the cheese factor, but Clay only heard this in some subconscious part of his mind. All this real thoughts were focused on the situation at hand. His mind was focused on ways he could get his tail out this mess alive. He could let the cops do their job, but it looked like they were getting nowhere fast this way; already Chopshop and the Enforcer kat were yelling things back and forth to one another with no progress being made for either side. Maybe he should take matters into his own hands, but that could also get him killed and he had grown quite accustomed to breathing. It seemed he was screwed either way.

Clay made his decision. Maybe he was too brash for his own good. His mom always told him that his recklessness would get himself killed one day.

_Mom, you better be wrong. _

He would escape or die trying. The grip of Chopshop wasn't that strong, this guy was no Superkat, but if he felt Clay trying to pull away, even in the slightest, that might be enough incentive to pull the trigger. He got as good of a look at his captor as he could. Chopshop was distracted by the Enforcers and their barrage of guns. Alright, it was now or never.

Clayton lifted his foot and brought the heel of it down as hard as he could onto Chopshop's. The kat yelped in pain and, just for an instant, lost his grip. That was all the time he needed to pull away. Clay pushed him backward and contacted his elbow with the gut of Chopshop all followed up by a swift punch by his right hand. The villain spun by the hard strike and hit the pavement, losing his weapon in the process. Instantly, several Enforcers were upon the downed kat, handcuffing him and haling him up to his feet. Their prisoner coughed heavily and a slight trickle of blood came down from the left side of his mouth where he had been punched.

"Servers you right." Clay had whispered between gasps of air. He didn't realize just how out of breath he had been. He mustn't have dared to breathe the entire time.

The large kat in the suit hopped down from the copter to the paved road below. He stood in a crouched position until he had walked out of the radius of the spinning blades then stood fully erect. His eyes were fixed directly on Clay whp was afraid that the guy intended on arresting him for one reason or another.

He thought about making a break for it and was very ready to do so when a sound of jet came to his ears. He looked upwards and had to squint his eyes against the mid-noon sun. He couldn't see it, but was the sound of a jet, no doubt. He turned his attention back to the other kat, expecting him to be right on him, but he stopped where he was, looking just were Clay had been with one paw shielding his eyes.

"SWAT Kats." He said as a small grin crossed his face. "Looks like you were too little too late this time around. Your slipping."

The jet, or SWAT Kats, or whatever it was overhead hesitated up in the great blue for only a moment before shooting off and out of sight. The large kat finished his approach on Clay, but the look on his face had changed, he didn't know how, it just was. He towered over him for some time, not saying a word. Now, Clayton was about a notch under six feet, but this guy seemed to have another inch on him, easy. The height difference kinda made him feel like a child.

"Let me get one thing strait with you: I don't like vigilantes and I don't like people interfering with police business. I should arrest you along with that nut."

Clay gulped. Here come the cuffs. They'll haul him off to court, find out about all of the stolen food and unpaid bills, then it's just a hop, skip, and a jump off to a federal prison and the story of Clayton Pawsworth will come to an uneventful end. By luck or pluck, that didn't happen. Instead the officer smiled again and put a paw on his shoulder.

"However, I have another idea. You're either very brave or very crazy, still I can't ignore the way you single handedly took out a dangerous criminal and showed up those damned SWAT Kats. That's why I'm offering you a chance to join the Enforcers and protect your city."

Clay thought about saying this wasn't his city at all, but kept his mouth shut. That may be one of the reasons he hadn't gotten his dumb self killed yet, he knew when to stay quiet. He tossed the matter over in his mind for only a moment. This was exactly what he was looking for, wasn't it? This was the entire reason he had left everything he had known and ventured into the mystical land of Megakat City. The incident with Chopshop had been a blessing in disguise. You just couldn't ask for anything more perfect.

"Let me see, be arrested by the cops or join them. Well, I think you've made the choice quite clear. Sounds like a good gig. I'll take the job."

The kat smiled and offered his paw. Clay shook it, amazed at how small his own hand looked in it.

"Welcome to the Enforcers, I'll be your Commander, Ulysses Feral. Now go home and get some sleep. Training begins early tomorrow morning."

That was the basically what happened to him. That was how he went from county kid, to street bum, to Enforcer, all in a nutshell. Clay donned the final touches of his uniform and looked at himself in the mirror, pulling the sunglasses over his eyes. It felt like a lifetime since that happened, but still he couldn't believe where he was. He actually owned his own apartment (small and cramped, but his none the less), paid for his own meals, and best of all; he was actually living his childhood dream. Very cool.

"Okay Kats and Kitties, let's get out and get going! This is Madd Mark telling you that it's going to be a great day!"

Clay crossed the short space in his bedroom from the full body mirror he got at a yard sale to the bed that came with the room and hit the 'off' switch on the clock radio.

"You know what, buddy? I think it just might be."

Clay had been through a lot of changes in his twenty-three years of life, but there were still a few more waiting for him and an entire chain of events was about to unfurl before him in a fashion that Clay wouldn't have guessed on if the world was on the line. So much of his new life was about to be altered and all because he needed to get his car fixed.

PLEASE STAY TUNED


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

'The First Meeting'

Clayton had saved up enough cash to bye his first car about four or five months ago and the auto, along with the apartment, became another symbol of his bright and shinning future. It was nothing fancy in any way, heck it barely passed at being adequate. Truth be told, it was a pile of junk, but it was _his_ pile of junk and that gave it a very special place in his heart. The car's paint was black, but chipped and scratched in spots, the interior badly needed to be replaced and his back left light had a nasty habit going out and would require a good thump to be motivated into glowing red again. Despite it's shortcoming, nonetheless, the car still had four wheels, breaks, and a steering wheel. That worked just fine and was all Clay needed to be happy.

The streets of Megakat were the same as they always were and probably always would be: busy. Well, what else was one to expect when you moved into a big city? Each one had a fair share of traffic problems, he was sure, but that didn't make it any easier on his part. He lived about half an hour away from the station, but the drive took him about forty-five minutes to an hour depending upon the day. The mid-afternoon Friday and Saturday shifts were the worst, there was so much traffic then with people coming and going, filled with people enjoying their days off. Must be nice. No matter. When you're working at the job you love, things such as work hours seem unimportant.

Clay turned off of Main Street and onto West End Road. West cut through a small chunk of a neighborhood and from here he could cut across to Crystal Lane and get back onto Main. It sounded like a waste of time out loud, but on paper it worked out quite well. Main St. more or less curved around the subdivision and by taking these two streets Clay would be able to get back onto the road and skip over couple of stoplights, thus shaving off several minutes of his travel time. The time was currently eight fifty in the AM meaning he had ten minutes to get there, get parked and clock in. Plenty of time.

The surrounding homes and lack of traffic created a kind of mental lull that he happily feel in to. He really couldn't help it, but sometimes his mind just liked to walk away from him go out and do it's own thing. Thus would explain why he'd struggled so much in school, he just couldn't keep his head on his shoulders. No sooner then did Clay allow his guard to be dropped, reality slapped him right across the face. Two objects ran across the road in front of him; the first was a red ball and the second was the ball's owner, a boy no older then seven by the looks of it. The child grabbed his toy and looked at the oncoming vehicle. It was so much like a deer in headlights that it could almost be funny. Clay slammed his foot down on the breaks and felt the peddle thump heavily upon the floor mat. His car screeched forward and he was thrown; first toward the windshield and then against the back of his seat. He opened his eyes that had shut at some point or another during those terrifying few seconds and dared to look for the child. He saw him. The boy was still in the road, still standing, still holding the ball, still alive. They looked into each others eyes for half a moment before the child spun on his heels and ran back into his home.

"Shit."

Clay rubbed his eyes on the sleeve of his uniform and sighed deeply. Feeling like he suddenly became a hundred years older, Clayton took his foot from the breaks and onto the accelerator. Very slowly he made his way out of the suburbs and back onto the main road.

_Why was a kid even playing outside this early anyway? He should be in school! _He thought.

No, it was Saturday. No school.

_Well then he should be watching cartoons! _

They day from that point on passed without incident. He made it to work on time, but only by a minute, and tried to keep his wits about him for the rest of the day and worked to forget about what had happened that morning. His shift passed slowly and without anything unusual which is a blessing in a town like the one he was in. Clay was walking out into the parking lot with Lance Smith, a guy he had gotten pretty close to since he started working with the Enforcers. They had became pretty good friends and he had been a great help adjusting to the squad. They were both headed in the same direction, Lance was cutting to the squad cars to start his shift and Clay was going to head home. Currently, he was telling him about the near accident from which his heart was still racing a little.

"Well," Lance said as they walked "that would have been messy."

"Messy? That's your best word for it? Messy?"

"Hey, wadda want from me?"

"Geez, Lance I almost killed a kid!"

Lance laughed a little a shook his head. He threw one arm around Clay's shoulder in a kind of 'such-a-silly-little-brother' way.

"Clay, allow me to share with you a little secret: almost doesn't count."

"I thought almost counted in handguns and horseshoes."

"Girls and grenades, actually, but your on the right track."

Lance removed his arm and the two had a good laugh. He really needed that. He was feeling better already. The world could use more people like Lance. The guy wasn't perfect, but it was as close and you could get.

The two kats arrived at Clay's car. He sent his farewells to his friend and opened the door. Lance stopped him from getting in with a call.

"Woah, hold up there."

"What?" Clay asked, closing his door behind him.

"_This_ is your car?"

"Yeah. Haven't you seen it before?"

"Never, I would have remembered a junk pile like this!"

"Be nice, Lance."

"Always. Here lemme give you something-"

Lance faded out and started to hunt around in his pockets. He came out with a crumpled paper in one hand a pen in the other. He put the paper on top of his car and started writing. When he finished he clicked the pen closed and popped it back into his pocket and handed the paper to Clay who looked at what was written.

"What's this?"

"An address."

There was a pause.

"Well?" He asked.

"Well what?" Lance replied with a little smile, enjoying the game he was playing with his friend's head.

"Lance, you know what. Where is this an address to!"

"Oh! You should have asked that sooner. I'm not a mind reader, Clay."

"You're an ass, man."

"Be nice, Clay. Follow the directions on there to that address, it's a scrap yard on the outskirts of the city. They'll take car of your heap."

"I want my car tuned up, man, not destroyed!"

"They do repair work too, genius. A car as old as this has to have some problems under the hood. Best to find them now before they cause real trouble. However, you may be better off with putting the car out of it's misery."

"Are they any good there?" Asked Clay, ignoring the ribbings.

"The best around. The big one's Chance, little guy's Jake. Actually-"

Lance gestured towards him with his paw and Clay leaned in. His voice was lowered to a stage whisper as he spoke.

"Just between you, me, and the pavement these two aren't just mechanics. They both used to be Enforcers."

"Really?"

"Yeah, now these two were supposed to be the best around. Now I never really saw them myself. They were flyboys and I was-am just a tank goon. Anyway from what I hear they were in chase of Dark Kat and managed to do some real damage to his ship. Well, they got into it with the old Commander pretty heavy over who got to shoot the final blow, thus giving DK the opportunity to sneak up on them and hit their chopper. The two had to bail out and their helicopter smashed smack dab into the Enforcer HQ."

"Ouch."

"You bet your tail, 'ouch'. It did some nasty damage and on top of that, Dark Kat got away. Feral was so angry at the two that he just didn't stop at firing em', he actually forced them to work off the debt from the damage in the scrap yard."

"Your kidding!"

"Afraid not."

"Damn. That's going to take some time on a Government salary."

"Heh, no kiddin. Anyway, their both great guys and they work miracles with machines. Stop on by and see for yourself."

"Right. You know, I think I'll try them now. I've got nothing better to do."

"Adda boy! You do that, I better go. Some of us have work to do, you know."

He laughed.

"See ya, Lance."

"Later."

Clay opened his door again and stepped inside. Lance moved back as he started the engine and backed out of his space. Clay gave a short honk and drove off, leaving his buddy behind.

He studied the address several times on the way and got himself turned around once. He had to stop at a gas station to ask for directions, but soon he was back on track. After what felt like a lifetime of driving, he finally spotted the dirt drive. He was halfway down the road when an idea occurred to him. If even half of Lance's story was true, the two kats may not have been all that thrilled to see an Enforcer asking to car repairs.

Pulling over to the side of the road and parking the car, Clay pulled off his vest with the Enforcer logo and his over shirt thus leaving him in a sleeveless T and his gray pants. It wasn't much of a change, but it was enough. He grabbed the clothing along with his helmet, which he had dumped mindlessly in the passenger seat earlier, and popped the trunk. He tossed the items in the back, closed the lid, returned to his seat, started the car again and finished the trip.

The building wasn't much to look at, he saw and he stepped out of his vehicle, but the miles upon miles of random piles of junk sure where. There was a sea of car parts, old appliances, metal scraps, and other things that Clay's mind couldn't even place. It was kinda cool in a way. He may have spent the rest of his life scanning over the glistening items if it weren't for the voice which broke him out of his trance.

"Hey there!" It called. "Need some help?"

The voice came from the building garage. Looking over, Clay saw a kat with blond fur and brown stripes walking up to him. The kat was huge, though he was only a little taller then he was, the kat was freaking built! He was wearing white T-shirt and tan shorts. On top of his head was a red cap turned around backward.

"Um, yeah. A friend of mine recommended this place to me. I was wondering if you could give my car a once-over, tell me if there's anything really wrong with it."

The large kat looked at the car for a few beats and nodded. He half expected more jokes about the poor condition of it and was extremely relived when the kat just nodded at it.

"Sure, no problem."

He stuck out his palm.

"Name's Chance."

"Clay." he said shaking his hand. "It's good to meet ya."

"Same here. If you'll just hand the keys over, I'll pull your car in the garage. We already have one in there now so we may not get yours today, but if you'll just leave a phone number we'll get back to you."

"Sure."

He followed the kat back to the garage and filled out some paperwork. When he finished, he thanked Chance for all the help. As he did so, the inner door of the garage opened and the smaller, brown furred kat came out.

Chance introduced him to Jake and they shook. Afterward he asked his co-worker where he was headed.

"Just got a call inside. A car broke down on Megakat Freeway. It's going to need to be towed so I was going out to get it."

Chance looked down at the paperwork in his hand.

"Hey buddy, do me a favor."

"Sure, what."

He pointed a thumb back at Clay.

"This guy just dropped off his car, think you could give him a lift to his house. It'll be on your way."

"Oh no," Clay said. "I can just get a cab, really. Don't go out of your way."

"Hey, it not a problem." Jake replied. "Wouldn't mind the company. The trucks around the side. Come one."

He started to walk off and Clay shot a look back at Chance. The big kat nodded and with that, Clay followed Jake to the truck and hopped up into the passenger seat upon reaching it. This was his first meeting with Jake and Chance, but far from his last. Today was to be only the beginning of how the fates of these three were about to become intertwined, but before the show could truly start, one more player had to join the game.

PLEASE STAY TUNED


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Ride with Jake Clawson

The scenery slipped by the windows as they drove, changing from flat land spilling over with various metals shining in the sun to the towers and skyscrapers that housed who knows how many kats in a given day. There were thousands of people that lived their lives safely nestled inside the walls of the city and it was Clay's job to keep it that way. He'd seen a lot since he first joined the Enforcers; there were the bank robberies, the car chases, the chop shops (no relation to the man he encountered), and all the other bits of seediness that any city could have. There was one point of interest, however, that would mark Megakat different from all of the others; and that point would be the SWAT Kats: T-Bone and Razor. They were a masked duo of truth and justice in a darkening time. His Commander hated them like no one's business, calling them vigilantes and dangers to society, but he was only one of the few that thought that way. For most, the SWAT Kats have been the best thing that could have ever happened to their little city.

Clayton was un-aware of how long he had been lost in his thoughts before Jake snapped him out of it.

"Still breathing over there?"

"Huh?" He responded, almost trance like before regaining himself. "Oh. Yeah! Alive and kicking."

"Good to hear." Jake chuckled.

Clay rummaged through his mind to try and think up some kind of conversation to start to break the silence that had fallen over them ever since they started out, but nothing popped into his head other then the 'nice weather today' type dribble. The only other things he could get would lead to the Enforcers one way or another and it was best to stay off of that subject.

"New to the city?" Jake asked, breaking the silence for him.

"More or less, it's only been two years, but it still feels like yesterday."

"Well, Megakat is a big town. It's easy to get lost and feel like a tourist no matter how long you've lived here."

"I'll be fine. I have a pretty good scene of direction, unlike my mom." Clay smiled and shook his head. "That woman could get lost crossing the living room floor."

"I think we share a mom." He joked.

"She was bad too?" Clay asked.

"The worst. Dad would never let her drive the car alone for fear of losing her forever, but Then again, dad wasn't much better himself."

They both laughed. He decided that he liked this Jake kat. He had a good scene of humor and was pretty easy to talk to once you got the ball rolling a bit. Heck, maybe they could even be friends, stranger things have happened. After all, there was nothing like goofy patents to bring two perfect strangers together.

He thought back to his car which would now be sitting idle in their garage waiting to be inspected. A horrible image struck him. Clay had asked them to inspect his car for any damage, which would mean they would go over everything if they were as good as Lance said and everything would include the trunk. Either in his rush or naiveté, Clay had never even bothered to try and cover up his stuff. They would only need to take one look in there to see all he had left behind. They would know the truth then and what would that mean for his chances of getting to know these guys. He supposed in the grand scheme of things, the options of two mechanics weren't all that important, but it was the fact of the matter.

Jake and Clay exchanged conversation back and forth for some time, but all the while he was thinking of his uniform. Maybe he should just say something to Jake now, get it in the open. He could just explain that he knew they were ex Enforcers and he felt like wearing the uniform would be an insult so he put it away. Then all he could do is let the chips fall where they may.

Maybe he should.

Several more blocks rolled by and he tossed the subject over again over again in his head he couldn't come up with a solid answer. One minute one idea would seem good, but then another he thought it would be best to stay quiet. The truck rolled to a stop and he was no closer to a conclusion. It took him a minute to figure out that they were in front of his apartment.

"This is your place, right?"

"Right." He said.

Slowly, Clay stepped out of the truck and onto the sidewalk outside his home. This was it. It was either speak now, or forever hold his peace. One way or another, they would know, he was sure of that much. So if he just spoke up and voiced what was going on, maybe that could help some. Alright. His mind was set.

"Jake, I-"

He was cut off by a low buzzing sound. A red light inside of the truck started to blink on an off. Jake was looking at the light with a face that was a mixture of both worry and annoyance. He reached across the seats and took the passenger door in his paw.

"Sorry but something big just came up and I've gadda jet. Be seeing ya."

Without another word Jake shut the door and put the tow truck into drive and that was it. The window of opportunity had closed and locked. Clay noticed that, as Jake drove further off, his speed greatly increased until he was sure it was over the legal limit, leaving him alone and very much confused all the faster.

"What just happened here?"

With a little more hesitation and a shake of the head, he started towards the building that held his room and his life. Inside he went into the small kitchen and took out a can of milk. After popping the top he took a big gulp of the liquid, then gagged. He rushed to the sink and spit out his drink before turning on the cold tap and rinsing his mouth of the foul taste. Clay brought the can to his nose and took in a whiff. The milk had gone bad. He sighed inwardly and poured what remained in the can out into the sink then tossed away the container. He would make a note to clean out his fridge later. Right now, though, he felt like he really needed to lie down and just think things over a bit.

In the living room he sat down on his couch that he was renting from a home furnishing department across town. It wasn't all that comfy, but it served its purpose. He stretched out over the cushions, deciding he would nap first and then worry about his stance in the world today. Clay draped his arm over his eyes and let himself be taken down into the darkness.

_Meanwhile:_

Felina cursed as she watched another tank explode into a fireball before her eyes. The Enforcers were putting up the best fight possible against Molly and Mac Mange, but they could only do so much. The robotic gangsters had a super metal coating all around their bodies making laser fire as useless of a weapon as the beam of a flashlight.

So far they had managed to take out the Metallikats' car with their tanks, leaving the two of them to fight it out with the Enforcers where they stood, though it didn't make things any easier. Her uncle and the chopper units were keeping the crooks at bay with constant gun rounds, but ammunition was running low. Plus, the damages were stacking up.

She had no idea how these two kept escaping from Hackle's lab, but they both sure caused a mess every time they did it. Their minds were so one tracked, they would bust out of their cells, rob some place or another, and then try to make a break for it under the cover of broad daylight in the biggest car in the city. This time, however, the robbery was no bank or mint, but an electronics depot. The build mostly sold powerful monitors and servers to large corporations for their computers. What Mac and Molly wanted with several of those, she had no idea. Her best guess was that they thought they could sell them over the Black Market, They weren't exactly the two smartest crooks to walk the face of the Earth after all, but what they lack in brains, they made up for in raw strength. As if to prove this point, several more of the Enforcer tanks blew from the Metallicats' rounds.

Just when things had looked their darkest, the clouds parted to show the silver lining. From out of the blue came a glint of light shortly followed by a very familiar jet. The SWAT Kats swooped down from the sky and fired several missiles. There was a barrage of explosions around the Metallikats' and when the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of the duo expect their badly bashed up skulls. The jet shot off again and out of site. Over her headset Felina could her uncle going over his usual ritual of bashing the SWAT Kats; it was a speech that she had heard a million times and had hence learned to tune out. Personally, she was glad to have them around. Many lives, hers included, had been saved because of them. However, she did worry. What if something did happen to them? What would happen to the city then? Would the Enforcers be enough?

Miles away from the seen, a large kat draped in a black coat was watching the battle unfold on his monitor. The Metallikats had failed in retrieving the computer components that he required, but he figured as much. They had served merely as a distraction so his work could be carried out in piece and if, by some miracle, they had gotten away, well then all the better for him. He shut off the image as soon as the SWAT Kats left in their typical heroic style. He had what he needed. It was a shame that the ending of the Metallikats was so uneventful, but then so would be the death of the SWAT Kats soon enough.

"Only a matter of time, my friends; there are only a few puzzle pieces left to attach."

PLEASE STAY TUNED


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Clay's Cop Crisis

Clay awoke after what felt like a year of sleep. The bright sun that had once filled the room had dimmed greatly and it took his eyes several minutes before they would adjust to the new conditions. He was still in his living room, still on his couch. The clock on the wall above his TV read 7:00 PM exactly. What he had meant to be a short nap had turned into actual sleep.

Pushing himself into a sitting position with one paw and rubbing his eyes with the other, Clay cursed himself for sleeping so long. He knew that meant he wasn't going to be tired later that night when he went to bed. At least he didn't have to be anywhere tomorrow.

His mouth was dry and held a terrible taste. Clay stood and walked over to the kitchen sink to wash his late evening 'morning breath' away. The travel was a short one considering that that his living room and kitchen were basically the same room, the only thing separating the two was that the floor changed from gray carpet to gray tiles (gray tiles that were probably once white).

Clay turned on the sink and waited for the water to get cold. Ignoring a glass all together, he stuck his head under the stream and drank right from the tap. Then he felt satisfied he shut off the water and went to the kitchen for something more filling then water. He opened it up to see what he had and it turned out not to be much. There were a few cans of milk, a pizza box, some soda, a container of chocolate syrup, some health drinks that tasted like liquid chalk, and one last TV dinner. Clay reached in and pulled out the dinner and a milk can and thought to himself: _We're livin' the high life._

The microwave on the counter was set for two minutes and Clay watched as his food-to-be spun around and around. As he did so, he popped open the can of milk and brought it to his lips and just before he swallowed, the final levels of sleepiness broke away and his full conscious was free again and he remembered everything:

The milk was bad. He knew because he tasted it when he was dropped of at his house by a tow truck driven by a mechanic who was working on Clay's hunk-o-junk car. The mechanic's were ex-Enforcers. Clay was a current-Enforcer and his uniform was in the back. The heavy dread that had held in his guts during the entire ride home returned as Clay poured as second can of milk into the kitchen drain as stayed with him as he cleared out the rest of the rotten cans, then ate his dinner in front of the TV. Kat's Eye News was running an report on an attack to a local large electronics dealership, but he barely watched any of it. He kept thinking about his uniform in the trunk. The two mechanics, Chance and Jake, were going to find it. He had given up on his childish hopes that they'd pass it over. The question now was: what would be their reactions. Would they even care? The two had struck Clay as being good people. They were guys that Clay felt like he could maybe he could make friends with.

In a town like Megakat City, you needed all the friends you could get.

_For the next week Megakat City would undergo one of the strangest crime waves in history. Among the stolen items were: several hundred pounds of solid steel, fifty yards worth of electrical cables, ten glass windows, several computer servers, the landing gear of a military helicopter, as well as rolls of plastic and sealant glue. _

_In all of these cases, nothing of real value was stolen. No jewels, gems, gold, cash, or precious artwork were reported missing. While that one week had the highest theft rate in Megakat, it was also the lowest in value. All these items seemed perfectly harmless as well as pointless. It seemed like a joke to the citizens as well as the reporters who told the story, but there were two groups who weren't laughing at all: The SWAT Kats and then Enforcers._

_These seemingly random heists had one more thing in common: while there were few witnesses, they are repotting seeing a very large, very big kat at the crime scenes._

_There was something very heavy about to go down in Megakat city, and the scariest part was, no one knew what to expect._

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lance asked again. Clay wasn't keeping count, but he would have guessed they were up to about the tenth or eleventh repeat of that question.

"For the last time, Lance, I fine. I'm peachy. I hunky-fucking-dory." he snapped back.

"Alright," Lance replied, sounding a little offended. "Sorry for being concerned about my best friend. A thousand pardons, oh' Prince of Assholea."

Clay sighed and rubbed his eyes. There was a headache brewing behind them, as there had been yesterday as well as the day before that. He was tired, he wasn't sleeping well or eating well. Clay was getting cranky and short-tempered. He had been doing poorly at work. Felina had actually come up to him earlier that day and gave him several harsh words about his work performance as of late. Now, it's a very bad thing to be told by your superior that you're failing in your line of duties and it can be next to impossible when you happen to have a crush on said superior. Right now, Clayton felt like the lowest rung on a ladder.

"I'm sorry, Lance." He said at last. "It's just that-" he paused. It was just that-what? It was just that Clay had such a one-track mind that he was still fixed upon his car that was still sitting in the garage of a junk yard outside the city? It was just that he had to pay for a brand new uniform with money that he didn't have just because he was too chicken to go and ask for his back? It was just that, for all he knew, his car was sitting smashed to a thousand pieces, the item of punishment from two enraged, cheated, bitter mechanics? It was just that his very career was hanging on the line due to his sudden poor performance in a job where people's lives hang in the very balance? What was _it_ exactly? What could he say?

"Things aren't going well." Clayton spouted lamely. "I haven't been sleeping and, well, I guess I haven't really been eating much either. I can't really explain why."

Clay looked out the window of his friend's car as he was driven home. Lance had been good enough to give him a lift to and from work whenever he could so Clay wouldn't go broke on taxi's or bus fare. Lance was going out of his way for his friend and this is how he gets thanked? Clayton no longer felt like the last ladder rung, he felt like the cold dirt beneath it.

"The Cop Crisis." Lance said plainly.

"What?" He responded, honestly confused.

"The Cop Crisis, every police officer gets it and it sounds like it's your turn."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you've reached that point in your life and career when you finally realized that you're not immortal and you have the most dangerous jobs on earth. Well, next to bomb technician, I guess. Anyway, what I'm trying to is, you just got the blues, baby. What you need to do is just take some time off. Go on vacation. Chill out. Meet some fine tailed honeys and try to get lucky. You know: cool off."

There was a moment of silence before Clay said:

"Lance, do you actually have this kind of knowledge stored in your brain, or do you just B.S. it as you go?"

"Little from column A, little from column B," he replied.

They both had a laugh at that and Clay felt a little bit of the heaviness lift from his shoulders. Maybe Lance was right, maybe he was going through some kind of early life crisis. Clay did have some vacation time stored up for a rainy day, wouldn't it be just as good, if not better, to waste it on a sunny one?

"Hey," Clay said.

"Hmm?"

"You called me your best friend."

Lance laughed. "You know I don't lie, kid. Lance Smith is the most honest kat alive."

"God help us all." Clay added.

They laughed again.

_Later…_

The car rolled to a stop in front of Clay's building. He got out and said his goodbyes. Lance pulled away, honked his horn once and waved and then was gone. Opening the door to the building and climbing the stairs, Clayton felt better then he had all week long. He unlocked his door and entered his small slice of heaven. He passed by the couch and tossed his helmet onto it as he made his way to fridge, got a soda, and crossed back into the living room where there was a red light flashing on his answering machine. In a time when he jumped every time the phone rang or anytime he had a message, this particular day he did this action with no thoughts or worries what-so-ever. He would regret that.

Fate was cruel and it liked to sneak up on you from behind.

The mechanical male voice told him he had one message. There was a click and a very real male voice came out of his machine.

"Hello, Clay. This is Chance from the auto yard. We finally finished up with your car. I have to apologize for the wait, but he had a huge drop off of police cursers before we could get to your car and, well, you know: the government gets priority over us little guys. Anyway, you can stop by anytime today to pick it up. We'll be here."

There was slight pause.

"Oh, and before I forget; there's something I wanted to talk to you about. Anyway, have a good one. Bye."

The answering machine beeped again and shut off; leaving Clay in a room that suddenly seemed very dark and very quiet. The voice had been pleasantly warm so why did Clay suddenly feel a very cold chill roll down his spine?

PLEASE STAY TUNED


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Rookie

Kat life was such a pathetic thing. Men, women, children: all of them running around like ants in a glass box. Each one carrying the illusion that their particular life meant something, like they were important or meaningful to the world in which they lived. However, they were nothing more then dreamers caught in a realm between nightmare and fantasy and with no way to awaken to see the truth that was waiting just beyond they veils of the dream clouds.

People had a way of forgetting their mortality, either by stupidity or fear, and it would take disasters to remind the populous of their delicate 'condition'. It would be during these times that the people would fall to their knees and scream out for salvation from their Enforcers, from their SWAT Kats, from their Gods. These were all hollow figures, as Dark Kat planned on proving that.

Most of the parts were set, and now it was only down to acquiring the final piece that would turn his invention into a true thing of beauty: a force to be both admired and feared. Dark Kat was ready to shoo away the ghosts of salvation and show to Megakat that _he_ was now their Enforcers;_ he_ was now their SWAT Kats

_He_ was now their _God_.

_Meanwhile:_

Felina Feral sat in her office, if you could even call it an office. Technically what she had was a cubical with higher walls and a door. She hated being inside of it. The room seemed to suffocate her on all sides, threatening to choke the air right out of her whenever it pleased. She preferred being in the field so much more then being a desk jockey. She had no idea why anyone would actually voluntarily work like this. Hell, the only reason she wasn't out and about herself was because she needed to finish her report on Pawsworth's faltering, and possibly endangering, performance. Felina hated writing the kid up like this, but every officer had to work as an equal to one another and if one of them started to show weakness or intolerance, then they went on report. One too many write ups and they were removed from field. If their performance continued to decline, then the kat was discharged. That was piece of unpleasant news that could follow a kat around for a long time.

Clayton was a good kid, as a far as she was concerned. Felina remember when he'd graduated from the academy and join her tank force. He was star-eyed and imaginative and she knew by looking at him that Clay was thinking about all the bad guys he was going to catch and all every cool thing he'd ever seen in an action-movie. Felina guessed that as soon as the kid learned the difference between the movies and the real world, he'd be switching to desk work right quick.

She was wrong.

_It was Clay's very first day on the force when Hard Drive reappeared in town, armed to the teeth with hundreds of electric toy tanks that were packing very real ammunition. Hard Drive was using the little machines to held him rob one of the largest banks in Megakat. While he looted the registers, the tanks were blasting holes through the vault doors: their tiny, but powerful guns managing to take out the solid steel frames in just one blast. _

_When the Enforcers arrived on the scene, the bank had taken a lot of damage. Hard Drive was inside, loading up the cash while his toys stood watch. From the moment the real tanks arrived it was all out war. There were explosions all around as Felina and her uncle shouted out orders to their units. Everyone looked terrified, as they should have been, but when Felina shot a glance back to their new recruit, she was surprised to see a look of raw determination in his eyes. Felina could tell she was scared, the kat would have to be insane not to be, but she could also tell that Clay was going to put on a good impression his first day._

_Pawsworth and Smith were piloting the tank next to hers. Their squad had taken heavy damage and Felina was giving serious thought in falling back when she heard Clay's voice talk to have via their walkie-talkies._

"_Lieutenant," he called. "Hard Drive has a lot of electronic tanks out here."_

_Felina rolled her eyes at the childish statement. _

_Tell me something I don't know, she thought, but said: "I can see that, Pawsworth."_

"_No," The kid corrected, sounding a little embarrassed. "What I mean is, to control this many advance devices, Hard Drive has to have some kind of device for powering them all. There's just no way he can both rob the bank and feed orders to these toys."_

"_Kid, I know think you realize how powerful this mad man is," Felina said just as they were bombarded by another set of explosions. They were in a desperate time, and everyone knows that saying about what desperate times call for._

"_Alright, Pawsworth, we'll give it a try. You and I are going to get into that bank."_

_Clay's voice cracked over her ear piece. "What? Why me?"_

"_It was your idea, kid. Lance, can you provide enough cover fire to get us into that building?"_

_This time it was Smith's voice that spoke into her head: "If only everything was so easy. Try to keep the rookie alive, okay? I'm warming up to him."_

"_Alright," She said as the bombs went off all around her, rocking the heavy tank on it's treads. "Ready?"_

"_I guess." Clayton replied._

"_On the count of three."_

"_One…."_

"_Two….."_

"_Three!"_

_Felina and Clay popped open the hatches of their tanks and leaped down to the street. She screamed at Clay to start running and he obeyed the order with gusto. The tanks were strong, no doubt, but they were also slow and clumsy. On foot, the two of them could easy dodge and weave in between their frames. From overheard, Felina could hear her uncle Feral shouting at her through his megaphone, she couldn't make out what he was saying, but she didn't she'd comply with his orders even if she could make them out. Running at top speed, it was only a few seconds before the two of them were out of the street and into the bank through a hole blasted into one side, but those seconds seemed to stretch on for days. There were explosions all around her, the sounds of gun fire, junk and shrapnel was flying everywhere, threatening to rip her apart at any moment. This is what war must be like._

_The inside of the building was so eerily calm compared to the war zone outside that Felina could feel goosebumps trying to work their way onto her skin. She forced the feeling away as she took cover behind a fallen desk and removed her gun as she scanned the area to any threats. To her left, she could see the rookie doing the same thing. The kid sure picked the perfect day to start, didn't he?_

_There came a noise from the far side of the bank, one that was clearly different from those happening outside. I sounded like laughter. Clay looked over to Felina who motioned for them to press forward. Clay nodded and the two of them made their way over to the source of the clatter. The two of them stopped just short of the bank's vault, which had been blown off its hinges and lay in a smoking pile on the floor. There was more laughter from inside as Felina leaned in to investigate._

_Hard Drive was inside, as she suspected he would be, and around the mad man where half a dozen of the little tanks. Felina saw that these models were slightly different; they had flat tops which were being used to hold the bags of money. There was one more thing that she noticed: Hard Drive was wearing a device on his back. It looked like a backpack, but it was made of metal and was covered in wire and cables. One large antenna stuck out of the top and there was a mini computer screen with keyboard on the pack's side. The rookie was actually right; Hard Drive was using a giant remote control for all his machines._

_Felina shot Clay a look that said 'I can't believe you were right.' To which he responded with a weak smile. He seemed just as surprised as she was._

"_That's right, Enforcers," Hard Drive said to himself as he gathered up the money. "Keep on wasting time. You'll never catch me now."_

_Felina had enough. She stepped out to the opening where the vault door once stood and leveled her weapon._

"_Freeze!" She called. "You're under arrest, Hard Drive!"_

_Hard Drive head turned so quickly to look at her that she thought he might snap his own neck in the process._

"_Enforcers?" He asked, honestly surprised. "How did you- no matter. You're too late to stop me."_

_With a speed that she wasn't expecting Hard Drive's hand shot to the keyboard on his pack and hit a key. The tanks that were holding the stolen loot dropped their loads and turned to face her with a speed that their brethren lacked. Felina barley had time to leap out of the way before the tanks fired, blasting the counter behind her to bits._

"_Lieutenant!" She heard Clay call over the ringing in her ears. She screamed at him to take cover. He nodded and ran back as the tanks drove out of the vault to meet them. Felina rolled to her feet as quickly as she could and took off running. She turned a corner down a hallway just as the tanks fired again. These little guys may have been quicker, but their aim was terrible. _

_She leaned out of the hall and opened fire on them, but their armor was just as strong as any tank and her bullets simply bounced off. She took cover again as she was attacked by another barrage of tiny, but deadly, shell fire. When that stopped she leaned out again to fire. She saw that Hard Drive was standing out in the open, mocking her, waiting to see her demise. She also saw something else: Clay. He was crouched behind a broken chuck of the marble desk; his gun was raised and was leveled on Hard Drive's back. Her first thought was that Clay intended on neutralizing the suspect. Such acts are to only be done in extreme emergencies and only under the orders of superior officers. _

Oh, God. _She thought. _He's panicking.

_Just as she was going to shout at him to stop, she saw what Clay was really aiming at and it wasn't Hard Drive, but the pack he was wearing. He was paused, looking at her, waiting for the okay. She gave it and he fired._

_There seemed to be no affect and Felina felt her heart sink, but then she saw a spark fly out of the insane back pack. And then another. And then another. Soon the device was going off like fireworks and smoking just as bad. Hard Drive shouted out in surprise, and threw the device off of his back. It hit the ground with a deep thud, and then blew into pieces. Felina took cover again from the shrapnel of gears and parts and then things were very quiet, very still. It took her brain a moment to fully realize that the blasting had stopped. He dared a peek out and saw that the toy tanks had become nothing more then that: still, lifeless, harmless toys. The war had finally ended._

_Things moved quickly after that. Clayton and Felina arrested Hard Drive as he sat over his broken inventions, weeping. The toy tanks were rounded up and scrapped. Life in Megakat managed to return to normal. Felina congratulated Clayton for his quick thinking, to which he smiled._

"_I was just guessing," he said. "I had no way of knowing-"_

"_Doesn't matter," she cut him off by saying. "You still deserve the praise. If you keep that keep up with this, you'll be outranking me in no time."_

_To this, Clay smiled and seemed to blush. She had misjudged him. He didn't look like an Enforcer, but he sure acted like one._

She had honestly believed that she would be calling him Lieutenant or even Captain in no time, but now, sitting in the tiny room and writing up his warnings, she wasn't so sure he would be an Enforcer for much longer. She didn't like the idea, she cared for Clayton the same as she cared for every one of her officers, but the simple fact remained: Clay might be losing his job.

PLEASE STAY TUNED


End file.
